


Catching the Sun

by Onlymostydead



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hopeful Ending, Internalized Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 19:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7726279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onlymostydead/pseuds/Onlymostydead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wash tries his best to initiate something more- but his words fall on unhearing ears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catching the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I was talking to someone on Tumblr about how Wash would be the one to initiate, so if that was you, here's the fic! Several months late, I know.  
> Please enjoy!

"Hey Tucker!"

Wash called out, to no avail. The aqua armored figure kept walking, pausing for just a moment to remove his helmet.

"Tucker!"

Again, no response.

"Hey, Lavernius!"

That got his attention.   
Tucker stopped for a moment before spinning on his heel to face the ex-agent. 

To be completely honest there were a million things Tucker would rather do right now than have Agent Washington's stupidly beautiful face berate him for doing 'everything' wrong during training.  
Some examples: Showering! Taking off this gosh-awful armor that chafed in all the wrong places! Or, you know, jumping off a fucking cliff.  
Any of those sounded really great about know.

"You, uh... You weren't half bad. Definitely improving."

An awkward flush spread across Washington's cheeks, accentuating the smattering of freckles usually hidden by his helmet. He had never been good at visually hiding his emotions, though his voice betrayed no signs of embarrassment. He cursed himself silently for getting so flustered.

Tucker, noticing nothing, decided to keep moving. If Wash had anything important to say he would follow.

Unfortunately, he did, the other soldier matching his pace leisurely.

"So, I've heard the sunsets here in Chorus are really beautiful."

"I bet they are, dude, why are you mentioning it?"

Wash winced. 'Dude'? 

"I... Was actually wondering if you'd like to go, watch the sunset... together."

Tucker rolled his eyes. The confidence of his voice along with the erratic pace at which he was talking? He had obviously been put up to this. Tucker decided to just play along.

"Sweet! You inviting chicks or something?"

Wash pursed his lips and glanced away, blinking slowly. He wrung his hands as he walked, an old habit.

"I was actually thinking it could just be... Us."

"Pfft! Whatever, who put you up to this? Real funny, Wash, but I'm not into dudes."

Tucker took this opportunity to quicken his pace and enter his room, effectively shutting off the conversation.

 

"Whatever." Wash muttered to himself as he walked away. It wasn't as if Lavernius Tucker was the best person to fall in love with on Chorus.  
Like that would change the way he felt.

***

Tucker shut his rooms door behind him quite loudly, hoping Wash would get the hint to leave him alone.   
Why did Wash have to be so, so damn frustrating!  
It was as if Tucker couldn't do anything right around him, and if it felt right there was that nagging feeling at the back of his head.   
He never liked to acknowledge that he liked men.  
It had always pretty easy for him to fit in with the other guys, despite that, but damn did he feel alone.  
Making an appearance was always the easy part, it was maintaining it that was hard. But the right comment at the right time, the jokes, the innuendo, all of it formed a perfect cover.  
After a while it starts to not be that big of a deal. If you shut that out for long enough you start to cut it out of your life.  
At least, that's what Tucker kept telling himself.  
It should be easy, right?   
It wasn't like being bi, or pan, or whatever the hell was wrong. It was fine as far as he was concerned.  
As long as it wasn't him.  
No one really wanted to be that guy in the group, no one wanted to risk coming out. It was better to just play it safe.  
I mean, check out Donut.  
Even after joining the military, no, especially after joining the military there was still that pressure.  
Crack the right joke at the right time, 'don't ask don't tell', right?

Right?

He sighed and began unstrapping his armor.   
It was going to be a long night.

***

Wash stared into the mirror, running a hand through his now noticeably graying hair.

Maybe he was a bit old for Tucker, now that he though about it...  
But Tucker never bothered when it came to age, as long as the other person was legal age. He was very careful about that.  
And he knew from a very, let's say interesting, night that Tucker was in fact interested in men.  
Poor Caboose.  
Maybe he just hasn't taken the hint that he's being serious.  
Sighing, he turned himself away from the mirror. Time to try to sleep.

***

Tucker rolled over yet again and flipped over the pillow.  
No matter how many times he tossed and turned sleep wasn't going to come.  
One of those nights.  
With a drawn out groan he dragged himself out of bed, pulling on a pair of boxers and a tee shirt before leaving the room.

***

Washington laid on his back, perfectly still. His breathing was even, his eyes shut. A blanket pulled up over his body.  
And his thoughts racing at a thousand miles an hour.  
He wanted nothing more than to sleep, but the likelihood of sleep coming to him was small.  
Especially with the thoughts of a certain aqua armored soldier still plaguing his head.  
Not that he was the worst thing to be thinking about at this hour.  
Sighing, Wash rubbed his eyes and got out of bed.  
Out of habit he put on his armor, carefully adjusting each piece.  
Maybe a bit of a patrol would help.

...

Tucker went straight to the kitchen, hoping no one would notice if he made a cup of coffee. He realized, too late in his grogginess, that he had made an entire pot of coffee, at which he now stared absently. There was no way he could possibly finish it.  
He was just about to do something about it, never mind what, when Wash entered the kitchen.  
He appeared to have been out patrolling, still in full armor. He took off his helmet upon entering the kitchen, setting it down on the table.  
Tucker quickly averted his gaze, the caffeine in his system was certainly not helping him keep it cool. How did he even look hot with helmet hair?

"Hey," he practically grunted. "Are you gonna drink all that?"

Tucker shook his head, bringing himself back to reality.

"Nah, go ahead."

Wash, rather than pour himself a cup, simply began drinking the coffee out of the pot.

"Dude, how do you do that?" Tucker chuckled, eyes wide as he stirred yet another spoonful of sugar into his own cup.

Wash just shrugged, taking another swig.

"That's gotta be like- super nasty." Tucker groaned.

"It's not too bad." Wash countered, gesturing with the pot.

They sat silently for another moment or two before Wash moved to say something.

"I swear to gosh, dude. If you joke about asking me out again I will kill you." Tucker stated, voice uncharacteristically deadpan.

"What if I wasn't joking?" Wash quipped.

Tucker's eyes widened, quickly turning his attention back to his cup of coffee.

"Oh shit, you're being serious?" He asked.

Wash raised his eyebrows, unbelief written all over his face. "What did you think I was doing?"

Tucker took a deep breath and a few moments to collect his thoughts.

"I guess, I always kinda thought you were teasing me? I mean, you caught on to the fact that I like guys and you were making fun of me in like, the weirdest way humanly possible?"

Wash suppressed a chuckle, sensing now wasn't exactly the best time.  
Tucker took another breath.

"But like, how did you even figure out that I like guys? I mean, I'm a total ladies man. Do you actually have gaydar?"

"Wishful thinking? I didn't really know." Wash decided bringing up that time wasn't exactly a smart move. He doubted Tucker remembered it.

Wash kept his voice level, eyes only occasionally darting up to meet Tucker's.

"So... Would you want to... It's too late for the sunset, but I'm sure we could catch the sunrise." He offered.

Tucker exhaled, finishing off the rest of his coffee.

"That actually sounds great. Just... Nothing official, okay? I'm not sure I really want to be, you know..."

Tucker trailed off, hands fidgeting.

"Dating a guy."

A slow smile creeping into his face, Wash moved his hand a bit closer to Tucker's on the table.

"I totally get it. It gets really, really hard sometimes."

Wash thought over what he had just said, a few moments passing before he located his error.

"No, Tucker-"

By the huge grin blossoming on his face their would, however, be no stopping it.

"Bow Chicka Bow Wow!"

Wash rested his face in his hand to cover a grin. Maybe everything would be okay after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me having early morning patrol on Tumblr at Supertinydom!  
> Comments are love <3


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